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Joe Adcock
Joseph Wilbur Adcock (nicknamed "Billy Joe") (October 30, 1927 - May 3, 1999) was an American first baseman and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball, best known for his years with the powerful Milwaukee Braves teams of the 1950s, whose career included numerous home run feats. A sure-handed defensive player, he also retired with the third highest career fielding percentage by a first baseman (.994). Adcock was born in Coushatta, Louisiana. He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds after a successful run at Louisiana State University, but Ted Kluszewski had firm hold of the team's first base slot. Adcock played in left field from 1950-52, but was unhappy and demanded a trade, which he received. His first season with the Braves was capped by a mammoth home run into the center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds on April 29, 1953, a feat that had never been done before and would only be accomplished twice more, by Hank Aaron and Lou Brock. On July 31, 1954, he accomplished the rare feat of homering four times in a single game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, and set a new record for most total bases in a game (18) that stood until broken by Shawn Green in 2002. Another notable home run was the blast that ended the epic duel between Lew Burdette and Harvey Haddix on May 26, 1959, in which Haddix took a perfect game into the 12th inning. Adcock did not get credit for a home run, however, because Aaron – who was on first base – saw the runner ahead of him score the winning run and thought the hit had only been a double and walked back to the dugout, causing Adcock to be called out for passing him on the base paths. Adcock was often overshadowed both by his own teammates Aaron and Eddie Mathews, and by the other slugging first basemen in the league, Kluszewski and Gil Hodges, but he did make one All-Star team (1960) and was regularly among the league leaders in home runs. In 1956 he finished second in the National League in home runs (tied with Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Redlegs), runs batted in, and slugging average. This was despite being platooned at times with and understudied by rookie Frank Torre. The platoon continued through 1959 - and (because of Frank Torre's ineffective play - batted .228) was largely blamed with costing the Braves the 1959 pennant (they lost in a Playoff to the Los Angeles Dodgers) and costing manager Fred Haney his job. After playing for the Cleveland Indians (1963) and Los Angeles/California Angels (1964-66), Adcock managed the Cleveland Indians for one year (1967) and managed two more years in the minor leagues before settling down at his 288-acre (1.2 km²) ranch in Coushatta to raise horses. He died in Coushatta at age 71. YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS 1950 Reds 22 102 372 46 109 16 1 8 2.15 55 24 24 2 0 .293 .406 .336 .742 1951 Reds 23 113 395 40 96 16 4 10 2.53 47 24 29 1 2 .243 .380 .288 .668 1952 Reds 24 117 378 43 105 22 4 13 3.44 52 23 38 1 4 .278 .460 .321 .781 1953 Braves 25 157 590 71 168 33 6 18 3.05 80 42 82 3 2 .285 .453 .334 .787 1954 Braves 26 133 500 73 154 27 5 23 4.60 87 44 58 1 4 .308 .520 .365 .885 1955 Braves 27 84 288 40 76 14 0 15 5.21 45 31 44 0 2 .264 .469 .339 .807 1956 Braves 28 137 454 76 132 23 1 38 8.37 103 32 86 1 0 .291 .597 .337 .934 1957 Braves 29 65 209 31 60 13 2 12 5.74 38 20 51 0 0 .287 .541 .351 .891 1958 Braves 30 105 320 40 88 15 1 19 5.94 54 21 63 0 0 .275 .506 .317 .823 1959 Braves 31 115 404 53 118 19 2 25 6.19 76 32 77 0 0 .292 .535 .339 .874 1960 Braves 32 138 514 55 153 21 4 25 4.86 91 46 86 2 2 .298 .500 .354 .854 1961 Braves 33 152 562 77 160 20 0 35 6.23 108 59 94 2 1 .285 .507 .354 .861 1962 Braves 34 121 391 48 97 12 1 29 7.42 78 50 91 2 0 .248 .506 .333 .839 1963 Indians 35 97 283 28 71 7 1 13 4.59 49 30 53 1 2 .251 .420 .320 .740 1964 Angels 36 118 366 39 98 13 0 21 5.74 64 48 61 0 2 .268 .475 .352 .827 1965 Angels 37 122 349 30 84 14 0 14 4.01 47 37 74 2 2 .241 .401 .315 .716 1966 Angels 38 83 231 33 63 10 3 18 7.79 48 31 48 2 2 .273 .576 .355 .930 TOTALS 1959 6606 823 1832 295 35 336 5.09 1122 594 1059 20 25 .277 .485 .337 .822 LG AVERAGE 6555 873 1741 277 57 186 2.83 818 663 856 72 42 .266 .410 .335 .745 POS AVERAGE 6637 905 1806 287 54 265 3.99 1012 723 960 47 33 .272 .451 .345 .796 YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS 1950 Reds 49 -9 -14 .425 4.76 151 25 .113 .183 .417 0 0 3 0 12 278 399 LF 1951 Reds 36 -25 -32 .279 2.96 150 30 .137 .195 .355 0 1 2 0 25 328 422 LF 1952 Reds 53 3 -1 .528 4.97 174 39 .183 .235 .460 0 1 1 0 10 288 403 LF 1953 Braves 84 1 -4 .506 5.02 267 57 .168 .241 .457 0 2 6 0 22 452 640 1B 1954 Braves 92 29 23 .666 6.68 260 55 .212 .294 .539 0 3 11 4 7 372 562 1B 1955 Braves 41 3 -5 .526 4.81 135 29 .205 .306 .475 3 2 2 1 13 230 324 1B 1956 Braves 87 28 20 .669 6.79 271 62 .306 .379 .601 6 1 11 2 11 346 500 1B 1957 Braves 37 12 6 .670 6.36 113 27 .254 .349 .550 3 1 0 1 7 157 231 1B 1958 Braves 46 7 1 .571 4.91 162 35 .231 .297 .490 1 1 2 5 14 253 349 1B 1959 Braves 72 21 10 .645 6.44 216 46 .243 .322 .543 6 0 2 6 8 302 444 1B 1960 Braves 88 29 22 .672 6.17 257 50 .202 .292 .515 7 1 5 4 13 385 570 1B 1961 Braves 94 24 15 .625 5.89 285 55 .222 .329 .520 4 2 4 2 22 431 629 1B 1962 Braves 61 6 2 .537 5.20 198 42 .258 .391 .524 8 1 2 3 18 317 447 1B 1963 Indians 37 2 0 .515 4.44 119 21 .170 .272 .446 4 0 1 3 7 225 317 1B 1964 Angels 58 18 14 .659 5.51 174 34 .208 .333 .499 4 0 0 1 13 284 415 1B 1965 Angels 42 0 -4 .499 4.09 140 28 .160 .266 .434 3 1 0 0 10 277 387 1B 1966 Angels 43 15 14 .688 6.31 133 31 .303 .437 .577 6 0 0 3 11 184 265 1B TOTALS 1020 164 67 .577 5.39 3205 666 .208 .297 .495 55 17 52 35 223 5109 7304 LG AVERAGE 913 0 0 .500 4.83 2691 520 .145 .250 .448 46 38 62 38 152 5109 7357 POS AVERAGE 1036 121 0 .552 5.48 2995 606 .179 .290 .485 55 38 39 46 159 5109 7484 JOE ADCOCK LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS 1951 NL WORST RCAA T4TH -25; WORST RCAP 1ST -32; GIDP 2ND 25 1953 NL GAMES T2ND 157; DOUBLES 10TH 33; STRIKEOUTS T10TH 82; GIDP 1ST 22 1954 NL HR/100 OUTS 10TH 6.18; HR/100 PA 10TH 4.09; HR/100 AB 10TH 4.60; AVERAGE 9TH .308; SLG 8TH .520; OPS 8TH .885; RCAA T9TH 29; OWP 7TH .666; RUNS CREATED/GAME 10TH 6.68; ISOLATED POWER 10TH .212; BPA 9TH .539; SACRIFICES T10TH 11 1956 NL HOME RUNS T2ND 38; HR/100 OUTS 1ST 10.98; HR/100 PA 1ST 7.60; HR/100 AB 1ST 8.37; RBI 2ND 103; STRIKEOUTS T6TH 86; SLG 2ND .597; OPS 3RD .934; RCAA T7TH 28; OWP 6TH .669; RUNS CREATED/GAME 8TH 6.79; EXTRA BASE HITS 10TH 62; ISOLATED POWER 2ND .306; SECONDARY AVERAGE 7TH .379; TOTAL AVERAGE 5TH .916; BPA 3RD .601; SACRIFICES T8TH 11 1959 NL HOME RUNS T9TH 25; SACRIFICE FLIES T8TH 6 1960 NL HOME RUNS 7TH 25; HR/100 OUTS 9TH 6.49; HR/100 PA 8TH 4.39; HR/100 AB 9TH 4.86; RBI 8TH 91; STRIKEOUTS T9TH 86; AVERAGE 7TH .298; SLG 7TH .500; OPS 7TH .854; RCAA 8TH 29; RCAP 9TH 22; OWP 6TH .672; RUNS CREATED/GAME 7TH 6.17; ISOLATED POWER 8TH .202; TOTAL AVERAGE 7TH .809; BPA 9TH .515 1961 NL GAMES T9TH 152; HOME RUNS T4TH 35; HR/100 OUTS 5TH 8.12; HR/100 PA 5TH 5.56; HR/100 AB 5TH 6.23; RBI 6TH 108; STRIKEOUTS 4TH 94; SLG 10TH .507; ISOLATED POWER 9TH .222; SECONDARY AVERAGE 10TH .329; GIDP T3RD 22 1962 NL HOME RUNS T8TH 29; GIDP T4TH 18 See also *Magazine covers * Top 500 home run hitters of all time References * External links * * BaseballLibrary - biography and career highlights Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe Adcock, Joe